There are certain places on our trips that guests remember long after they’ve gone home. The Blackford Highland Games field is one of them.
It’s where we gather with guests to watch local Backroads friend and heavyweight athlete Kyle Randalls bring the Highland Games to life: throwing, lifting, sharing stories and giving people a real sense of what these traditions mean here in Scotland. It’s always one of the highlights of the trip and for good reason. It’s a connection to something much older and deeply rooted in the community.
What people might not see is what it takes to keep something like this going.
A celebration of Scottish heritage, the Blackford Highland Games have been held annually each May for over 150 years and feature traditional “heavy athletics” such as the caber toss and hammer throw as well as running, cycling and piping competitions.
Run entirely by volunteers, the Games continue to thrive thanks to the dedication of the committee members who prepare the field and equipment, organize the events and keep everything moving year after year, all without owning the land themselves. It’s a huge amount of work, and it’s all done because people care about preserving the tradition.
One of the things that makes Blackford especially important is that it’s one of the increasingly few Games that offers a junior competition. That means local kids get the chance to step into the field, try the events and start building a connection to the Games and their heritage from a young age.
Through the Backroads Give Back Field Project program, Backroads is sponsoring one of the junior events this year. In a volunteer-run setting like this, our help in covering the basic costs of running the event takes a bit of pressure off the committee and helps keep things accessible for the community.
We bring guests to this field every season on our Scotland Bike Tours. We rely on the knowledge, generosity and time of people like Kyle and the local community to create a meaningful experience. Supporting this local tradition is a way of giving something back to the place that gives so much to us. More importantly, it helps ensure that the next generation has the same opportunity to be part of it.
Highland Games aren’t something you can preserve from a distance. They have to be lived, practiced and passed down. Watching young athletes pick up the weights for the first time, learning the techniques and building confidence is how tradition continues.
If you’ve ever stood on that field with us, you’ve felt it. This sponsorship helps keep the pride and continuity going by supporting the volunteers and young athletes, ensuring that when we return with guests year after year, the Games are strong, local and very much alive.
